Sean Spicer: I ‘Clearly’ Meant Orlando When I Referred To Atlanta Terror Attack

Sean Spicer has said that he was “clearly” referring to the terrorist attack in Orlando last year when he mysteriously referred to an attack in Atlanta several times over the past two weeks.

An anti-abortion terrorist bombed the 1996 Olympic games and several other places in Atlanta, directly killing one person an indirectly killing another, who had a heart attack. But that’s not what the White House press secretary meant. He told ABC News in an email Wednesday: “clearly meant Orlando.”

The Daily Beast on Wednesday noted Spicer’s citing of Atlanta as justification for the Trump administration’s pursuit of “extreme vetting” of refugees.

During a Jan. 29 appearance on ABC’s “This Week,” Spicer was quoted by the network as saying, “What do we say to the family who loses somebody over a terroristic [sic] — to whether it’s Atlanta or San Bernardino or the Boston bomber? Those people, each of whom had gone out to a country and then come back.”

Spicer then mentioned an Atlanta attack twice the next day: On “Morning Joe” — “whether you’re talking about San Bernardino, Atlanta” — and during a press briefing.

At the briefing, a reporter asked why certain countries with ties to terrorism weren’t included in Trump’s immigration order. Spicer said that the administration was reviewing the process, “but I don’t think you have to look any further than the families of the Boston Marathon, in Atlanta, in San Bernardino to ask if we can go further.”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Matt Shuham is a news writer for TPM. He was previously assistant editor of The National Memo and managing editor of the Harvard Political Review. He is available by email at mshuham@talkingpointsmemo.com and on Twitter @mattshuham.